The first Chevrolet V8

Okay, so there was a Chevy V8 before 1955. (Click on any picture for enlargement.) And I don't think any of us remembering one driving around our childhood neighborhoods.  But recently I found it in 1/43 scale, and here it is:

Ziss-Modell?

 Ziss-Modell was a rather extensive line of die cast metal contemporary and veteran model cars, most often of German origins.  They were made by the West German Mini-Auto firm from the 1960’s into the late 1970’s.  These models are often compared with the French Minialuxe and RAMI by J.M.K., as well as Italian Rio Models and Brumm . Amidst German and other European cars, only a few Ziss-Modells were of American cars.  The Model T Ford, produced and sold in Europe, is represented by several models, and there is a solitary Chevrolet, the subject of this post, the 1917-1918 D-Series Chevrolet.

Now, about that V8 engine, or maybe we should say "those V8 engines."

Here's a little taste of a fine article:

   The small-block Chevrolet V8 engine of 1955 was an engineering triumph, one of the most produced and best-known engines of all time. However, it was not Chevrolet's first overhead-valve V8 engine; that honor belongs to the D-Series Chevrolet, built only for the 1917 and 1918 model years. As it says in the flowery language of this car's original brochure, an eight-cylinder is "never failing in power." The problem with this eight-cylinder engine was that it made less power than the four-cylinder in the much-cheaper Series FA Chevy: 36 horses for the 288-cubic-inch pushrod V8, 37 for the 224-cubic-inch pushrod L4. How much was a new Ford Model T, with just 20 horses under the hood? 360 bucks, versus $1,385 for the big Chevy.

See this for the whole story:    https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/classic-cars/a1855076/38-years-chevrolet-small-block-v8-there-was-chevrolet-v8/

  This interesting older model is not up to the standards of today's production, but it was the product of a country rebuilding after World War II, it is an attempt at demonstrating an American auto from a different era, and if it could be done better with today's technology, then who is going to do it?   I suggest that we look around for a Ziss-Modell next time we're on the search.